Mutuals

[8]

WHEN YOUR HEART IS BREAKING AND YOUR PAIN MAKES YOU FALL, REMEMBER, JUST REMEMBER - ALLAH SEES IT ALL

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"Zara BBC want you on air next Friday"
"Ellen wants you next month"
"Jonathan Ross wants you next month"
"Jimmy Kimmel wants you in two months"
"James Corden wants you in two weeks"

This is all I've been hearing for the past two days. Ever since little videos from my awards show went viral, TV presenters all over the world want me on their show. Well TV presenters from England and America to be exact.

"You don't have to do this but it will be good for your publicity" Farhan explains
"Is it the kind of publicity I want though?" I ask and Alice shrugs
"We won't know until you've been asked the questions on the show because it will depend on the questions people ask you"

"Should I do it?" I ask looking at Jason and he nods his head

🕒

And that leads us to where we are now, backstage of BBC radio and we're about to go on air in ten minutes
"I'm really scared" I say shaking
"You'll be fine trust me, answer truthfully and you'll be fine" Alice comforts me and I nod my head

"Can we have Zara in place now please?" I hear someone call and a girl with her hair in a ponytail and a headset on her head, holding a clipboard comes to get me
"Good luck" Alice whispers before I go

"You can just sit here, a glass of water is there, please get comfortable" she smiles at me once we're through into the studio
"Thank you"

I take a sip from my water and place it back onto the table in front of me which has a million wires coming out of it.
"Hi Zara I'm Nick" his face pops out in front of me
"Oh hi" I smile politely
"Well call me Grimmy" he says getting comfortable

"How you feeling?" He asks
"Nervous, it's my first appearance out in the world" I reply
"Oh yeah you're fresh meat aren't you" he laughs and I nod
"If that's what you call it" I shrug

"Right, lets get started" he claps his hands and I smile nervously
Jason catches my eye and gives me a thumbs up and I nod my head slightly in response

"Gooooood morning Britain how is everyone's morning going, personally mine hasn't started off the best. I woke up today thinking it was Saturday meaning I thought it was my day off. However, no matter how bad your morning started I have two things to make your Friday morning better. Joining us after your first song is the newly discovered modest influencer Zara Ali but for now, enjoy James Arthur's and Anne Marie's reimagined version of Re-Write The Stars"

I watch him as he's just naturally conversing with a microphone because it's weird, could never be me.
"Are you ready?" He asks and I nod my head slipping my headphones on

The song comes to an end and I breath shakily wiping my sweaty hands on my pants.
"Ooooookay guys, that was James Arthur and Anne Marie with Re-Write The Stars. Before we play the next song I wanna have a quick chat with today's guest, Zara Ali"

He turns to me,
"How are you Zara?" He smiles
"I'm good how are you?" I reply
"Good good thanks for asking, so talk to me a bit about how your awards went" he says

Wow starting with a big question huh?

"Well I just wanted to do something to show all the Muslim influencers that they're recognised? They do so much and it was nice to be able to show them that they're appreciated" I nod my head
"Awww well isn't that nice of you, aww you're such a sweetie" he coos jokingly and I laugh
"So tell me how old are you?"

"I'm 20, 21 in a few months" I nod my head
"And you've done all that?" He laughs, "When I was your age I was crying in my backyard because I'd failed my first year at Uni for the third time"

I chuckle at his little joke feeling more comfortable than I was at the beginning
"So can we expect to see more of you in the future?"
"Erm yeah I hope you will, I really enjoyed the whole process so it would be amazing if I could do it all again or maybe something different" I explain nodding my head

"That's great well one last question before I let you go, what's your favourite song at the moment?" He asks

"Well it I was going to be honest..." I start
"Please do be honest" he laughs
"I'm gonna have to say Zayn, Good Years" I nod my head acting as if it was an actual choice

"Good choice, very good choice" he smiles, "right well it was amazing talking to you and I hope we can do this again some time"
"Yeah it was nice meeting you"

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"You can have your phone back now" Alice hands me my phone and I roll my eyes
Unlocking it, I see my Instagram is blowing up with mentions but some many celebrities, even by some that I don't even know

"Guys guys guys" Farhan says looking up from his laptop that he always seems to take every where he goes
"What?" Alice turns around and I look up from my phone

"Look at all these articles about your awards ceremony" He scrolls down the google page, my name on every headline
"You did really good" Alice says and I nod my head

"Well you were part of it too!" I tell them all and Jason smiles
"Well I guess we can't stop now, you've gotta keep doing things for the Muslim community and I have just the perfect thing in mind" he smiles

Well I guess I'm gonna be busy for a while now

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